Who Cares?!?!

Almost a month ago, I received an email from a concerned regular attender of my church. A mutual friend of ours was missing, and she was worried about his safety. No one knew where he was or why he left, but the lack of his presence noticeable. Everyone that knew of his disappearance assumed that this was a short term situation in which he forgot his phone when he went to go visit a friend or a spontaneous vacation. As time passed we began to realize that this was not the case.

As a result of this event, flyers, mass emails, mass texts, and even online forums were created to share ideas about the nature of his whereabouts. At first, friends and family became somewhat frustrated but as time went by a deep sense of love and mission erupted from the hearts and hands of those involved in the search. Many attempts were made to reach him but none yielded results. A community of thousands of people emerged to support the effort.

The question at the very beginning was “why” (why did he leave?) but this question soon evolved into “where” (where did he go?). People just simply wanted to find him for a sense of peace to know that he was safe. The prayer lives of many were activated out of dormancy.

Today marked the corresponding bookend to this story. After 3.5 weeks, he returned home safely and was undoubtedly embraced and kissed in vast amounts. The frustrating questions at the beginning don’t really matter now, because the one that was loved so much was returned to the family.

Sometimes, as humans, we feel invisible. We don’t feel as if we have made an impact, or it seems that our lives have no purpose. When we really think about it…who cares?!?!

What we will find out is that there are people in this world who care deeply for us, and even though we are not millionaires or famous, there is some impression we have made on their hearts. Even more importantly, God has put us here to live, love, and give ourselves away no matter what kind of job, influence, or popularity we possess.